Every despot in history has had one agenda item in common: disarm the citizenry.

A few quotes to show how the framers of the Constitution felt about guns:

‘‘The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun.’’
— Patrick Henry

‘‘Laws that forbid the carrying of arms… disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes… Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.’’
— Jefferson’s “Commonplace Book,” 1774-1776, quoting from On Crimes and Punishment, by criminologist Cesare Beccaria, 1764

‘‘Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? … If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?’’
— Patrick Henry

‘‘I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials.’’‘‘To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.’’
— George Mason

An amazing quote from a pacifist:
‘‘Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest.’’
— Mahatma Ghandi, “Gandhi, An Autobiography”, page 446

How do the oppressors feel?
‘‘Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA – ordinary citizens don’t need guns, as their having guns doesn’t serve the State.’’
— Heinrich Himmler

‘‘The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subjected people to carry arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subjected peoples to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the underdog is a sine qua non [“something essential” lit. “without which not”] for the overthrow of any sovereignty. So let’s not have any native militia or police.’’
— Adolph Hitler, Edict of March 18, 1938